Assault at LIRR station caught on surveillance

The MTA Police Department is searching for a man witnesses say assaulted and possibly abducted a woman at the LIRR's Ronkonkoma Station, on Sunday, March 4, at approximately 7:40 a.m.

In surveillance video, the man police are seeking is seen knocking down a woman who had just exited a LIRR train.

The two then exchanged words inside a shop before he forced her to leave the store. Once outside, he again knocked her down and dragged her off camera.

"The blood was all over the parking lot. There was blood all over the curb. It was sad. It was really sad," eyewitness Ann Marie Norelius said.

A witness says the man punched the woman so hard she cracked her head on the sidewalk.

He then put her limp body over her shoulders, carried her to a car all the way at the end of the station and took off, driving in the direction of the Long Island Expressway.

It was about 8 a.m. last Sunday.

The vehicle was a light silver 4-door Nissan Altima made in the late 1990s or early 2000s.

Jeremy von Arnold is the taxi dispatcher blurred out in the video.

He says the woman, who appeared slightly drunk, didn't ask for help only to use the bathroom.

"The guy came in behind her and said we're not doing this here. She resisted but she didn't act in any sort of distress in anyway. I feel horrible because I wish I could have seen she was in more distress and I would have done more to help her, you know? I feel terrible and I just hope she's all right," von Arnold said.

Anyone with information about this incident, in particular the identity of either the suspect or the victim, is asked to call the MTA Police at (718) 361-2207. The line is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Calls can be anonymous, and all information will be kept strictly confidential.

The suspect is an African-American male aged 25-30, approximately 5-foot-9 or 5-foot-10, weighing 185 to 210 lbs. He had crew-cut hair or was bald, and was seen wearing a black leather jacket, blue jeans and sneakers.